Explore local seed houses

Many Santa Cruz area residents make it a habit to support local businesses whenever possible. If you like to spend your money locally, you have the opportunity to do just that when buying seeds for your garden. We are very fortunate to have two locally owned seed houses here, offering seed for both edibles and ornamentals. New seed for 2008 is available now, or soon will be. Though some is for next summer's garden rather than for planting now, remember that seed over-wintered in a cool dry place, safe from insects and rodents, does not lose its vigor. And a seed assortment can make the perfect holiday gift for that gardener on your list.

Most gardeners are familiar with Renee's Garden Seeds. The informative and beautifully illustrated seed packets are sold in most retail garden centers and nurseries in our area. The owner, Felton resident Renee Shepherd, is well known as a speaker at local garden events and at the Aptos Farmers Market, and is also the author of one of my favorite cookbooks, "Recipes from a Kitchen Garden."

Though I love growing vegetables, what to do with them after harvest often stumps me. This book is full of quick and easy ways to use the veggies that are in season and is the answer to an oft-uninspired cook's dreams.

Visit Renee's Web site, www.reneesgarden.com, for a list of seeds available, and other useful information. And shop for her seed online or in many local garden stores. Here are three of her new-for-2008 seeds that look especially intriguing.

Green Fingers Persian Baby Cucumbers On vigorous powdery mildew-resistant vines, 3-to-5-inch-long smooth thin-skinned crisp cukes are freely produced. Plants are self-pollinating and early bearing, setting crops even under difficult conditions.

Spiky Blue Ornamental Grass (Corynephorus canescens) Graceful compact clumps of 8-to-10-inch tall silvery fine-textured blades are perfect as accents in containers or as edging in beds and borders. Grass ages to a reddish green, offering even more garden color. In our mild climate, cut back in spring to 3 to 4 inches, for even new growth.

Bridal Veil White Nigella Dainty 2-inch blossoms have pure white petals with deeply contrasting black centers. This hard-to-find "Love in a Mist" makes excellent cut flowers and the decorative spidery seed capsules are wonderful in dried arrangements. Extremely reliable and easy to grow, even in drier soil.

Perhaps less well known than Renee's seed, because it is available by mail order only, are specialty seed from Seedhunt.com, "Unusual Seeds for Curious Gardeners."

Watsonville plantwoman Ginny Hunt says on her web site seedhunt.com that she offers "seed of plants that have not been commonly available, but might be of interest to plant enthusiasts. California's mild wet winters and rainless summers encourage gardeners to try plants that are adapted to this pattern; emphasis in the seedlist is on plants that are suited to this Mediterranean type of climate and that will thrive with limited water"

Ginny's plant list includes annuals, California natives, restios and salvias. Under the heading Plantsman's Pocket, you'll find very unusual rarities such as two species of Bomarea, or climbing relatives of Alstroemeria (Peruvian Lilies). Under salvias, you'll see hard-to-find plants from all over the world, many winter-blooming, and always attractive to hummingbirds. Many are also deer resistant. If you crave the rarities of the garden world, and are converting your garden to low water use, you'll love Seedhunt.

-Sharon Hull